4. treasurer’s report / review and approve bills,...

JOHNSON SELECTBOARD MEETING MINUTES

JOHNSON MUNICIPAL BUILDING

MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2019

Present: Selectboard Members: Mike Dunham, Nat Kinney, Kyle Nuse, Eric Osgood,

Others: Brian Story, Rosemary Audibert, Brian Krause, Howard Romero, Howard Brown, Amy

Thompson, representative from J. Hutchins, Dean West, Howard Romero, Scott Griswold, 3

other community members

Meeting videotaped by Green Mountain Access Television. GMATV info: https://greenmountainaccess.tv/; PO Box 581, Hyde Park, 05655; [email protected] or 802-851-1592

Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted.

1. Call to Order

Eric called the meeting to order at 6:57.

2. Additions, Changes to Agenda

Eric said there was a misprint on the agenda concerning the minutes to be approved. May 6

minutes do not need to be approved. Kyle added discussion of issues with the bread oven,

getting the inclusivity statement on our website and a racial justice workshop. Nat added

discussion of maintenance at Old Mill Park.

3. Review and Approve Minutes of Meetings Past

Kyle moved to approve the minutes of the May 13, 2019 joint trustee-selectboard

meeting, the May 13, 2019 dog hearing minutes, the minutes of May 20, 2019 and the

minutes of June 3, 2019, Nat seconded, and the motion was passed.

Eric welcomed Eagle Scout Howard Brown. Nat congratulated Eric on his Marvin award,

which he said was very well deserved. Eric said he appreciated the board putting his

nomination in and being there when he received the award. It is an honor.

4. Treasurer’s Report / Review and Approve Bills, Warrants, Licenses / Any Action Items

Rosemary said to date we are at 89% of budget for expenditures. That does not include

tonight’s orders. We should be able to set the tax rate the first week of July. Delinquent taxes

for the current year are typical for this point in the year.

Rosemary said David Carruth sent his May tax payment by Priority Mail Express but the post

office made a mistake and sent it to Plymouth, Vermont instead of Johnson so it was 3 days

late. He is asking to waive the late fee of $88 dollars. He received a refund for the express

charges from the post office.

Eric asked, in the past have we ever waived the late fee? Rosemary said to her knowledge we

never have. (Amy Thompson and another community member arrived at 7:06.)

Rosemary said the post office guaranteed the payment to be here by 3:00 on May 10. She

showed how the post office had put the incorrect zip code on the letter.

https://greenmountainaccess.tv/

Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 2

June 17, 2019

Nat moved to waive the $88 late fee for David Carruth’s May tax payment because it

was the post office’s fault it was late, seconded by Kyle. Eric said he will not vote in favor.

He suggested perhaps the board would prefer to wait to vote until Mike arrived. Nat said he

is okay with voting now. The motion failed with Kyle and Nat voting in favor and Eric

opposed.

Rosemary said there were 3 properties from last year’s tax sale that were not redeemed. The

town purchased two of them. Someone is interested in buying one of trailers the town

purchased. Eric asked what the value is. Rosemary said about $3500 to 4000 is owed in

taxes. Eric asked if she recommends selling it for what is owed. She said yes.

Kyle moved to start the legal process to sell the property formerly owned by Jean Goss

at Katy-Win Trailer Park for the amount of taxes owed on the property, Nat seconded

and the motion was passed.

Kyle moved and Nat seconded to start the eviction process once the transfer has been

completed for the property previously owned by Glen Ingalls at Mountain View Park.

Nat asked if we can make sure the people living in the trailer are provided some social

services. Rosemary said the eviction process is lengthy. The motion was passed.

5. Road Commissioner/Road Foreman Report and Action Items

Brian K. said he removed some clay from one part of the gravel pit and used it to stabilize

another part of the pit that was starting to slump.

Eric said he looked at the ditch work that had been done on Hunter Road after receiving an

email expressing concerns about the work and he thought it looked good. Brian K. said the

ditch there is no deeper than it was before. He asked the property owner with concerns to call

if he has any issues after the work is done. He doesn’t think access to his fields is impeded at

all.

Kyle asked about chloride treatment for the path at Old Mill Park. Brian K. said that is on his

list now that it is drying out.

Kyle said there is a dead tree at Old Mill Park. She described the location. Nat said it is a

small tree. He is planning to cut it down himself.

6. Paving Proposals

Brian S. opened the proposals received from 3 contractors and read the amounts. Whitcomb’s

proposal was 790 tons at $84/ton for a total of $66,360. Pike’s proposal was 787 tons at

$89.70/ton for a total of $70,593.90. J. Hutchins’ bid was 808 tons at $75/ton for a total of

$60,600. The town has had good experience with all 3 contractors. J. Hutchins did the paving

last year with no problems.

Nat moved to authorize the chair to sign a contract with J. Hutchins for paving, Kyle

seconded and the motion was passed. (Brian K. left at 7:25.)

7. Historical Society Repair Bids

Brian S. said the Historical Society got 2 bids for repair work to Holcomb House. They are

very close in price and in scope of work. Both amount to around $1,800 to cover replacement


June 17, 2019

of ceiling tiles and replacement of flooring with synthetic flooring that has a wood-like look.

The Historical Society requests authorization to award the contract to the contractor that can

start work first. They don’t know yet who that will be. (Dean West arrived at 7:27.) The

price difference between the two bids is about $150. Kyle asked if the town has any

experience with either contractor. Brian said no. (Howard Romero arrived at 7:29.)

Nat said he doesn’t think we discussed the kitchen floor yet. The ceiling tiles were damaged

by water due to the flooding problem. Dean West said 6 ceiling tiles were damaged but if

only the damaged tiles were replaced they wouldn’t match the rest. Nat asked if there was

damage to the floor. Dean and Brian said yes.

Nat moved to authorize the Historical Society to accept either one of the two bids

received for repair work to the Holcomb House, Kyle seconded and the motion was

passed.

Nat asked when the building will be power washed. Dean said on June 24th

. He said the cost

will be about $700 less than anticipated because Johnson Hardware is donating use of a lift.

The total cost will probably be between $900 and $1200.

8. Historical Society Request to Reserve Funds

Brian said the Historical Society will end the year with an estimated $5K positive fund

balance. They would like to commit that money now to 3 different things. Duncan Hastings

sent a letter explaining. The first thing they would like to use the money for is as a match to

funds to upgrade the insulation in the carriage room. They would like to start using the

carriage room for display and storage and to do that they will need to insulate it and heat it to

a minimum level. They thought insulating it might help with the apartment upstairs too. We

had pipes freezing there a couple of years ago. The Historical Society would like to reserve

about $2K of the funds for the carriage room. They would also like the town to contribute

toward the insulation upgrades. The second thing they would like to use the money for is as a

match to a grant application to develop a strategic plan. The application has been submitted

to the Vermont Community Foundation but they haven’t received the grant yet. The estimate

is that they would spend about $2500 for this. The grant allows the applicant to pay as much

as they want but the more you pay the more competitive your grant application is. They

estimated paying 50% to make their application more competitive. The third thing they

would like to reserve funds for is conservation and preservation of historic artifacts and

documents. In particular there are a few books they would like to add to the town’s when we

work with a preservationist.

Dean said the Historical Society is hoping that the additional $2K needed to cover the cost of

about $4K for the carriage house work can come from the town. The work will benefit the

town because of the water freezing problem. It also benefits the Historical Society.

Eric asked if Brian has any suggestion about where the town could get $2K. Brian said it

would have to come out of building maintenance, which is taxed with repairs to this building.

Hopefully there would be money in building maintenance if we can find any way to move on

the old mill house or any of our other properties. Eric asked Rosemary if it is a safe

assumption that the Historical Society will have $5K left. Rosemary said yes. Eric asked, if


June 17, 2019

we have to come up with $2K more, where does it come from? Rosemary said from the

building reserve fund.

Kyle asked if the contractor working on the municipal building siding has discovered any

surprises. Brian said nothing really unusual has been discovered. There is rot in places we

expected to find it. There is less insulation than we thought there would be. The windows are

not flashed well and have been trapping water. The trim at various points has trapped water

also. Kyle asked if we will be over budget on that project. Brian said he doesn’t know yet but

we won’t be under budget. So far it is in line with what we expected. But what we expected

wasn’t very good. We are almost certainly not going to do the tower this year. He thinks we

will end up roughly on budget.

Eric asked what we have in the building reserve fund. Brian and Rosemary were not sure.

Brian said the amount is not high.

Eric said he is not comfortable with spending $2K on the carriage house. We have put some

money into Holcomb House this year. We are pretty tapped out with what we need for this

building. Eric suggested the Historical Society come back to the town when we have more

money in our pockets.

Dean said he wonders where the income for that building goes that we don’t have money to

spend on the building. Eric said income and expenses for the Holcomb House are about a

wash. Dean said if the rental income is just paying for the utilities then the town is giving the

tenants space for free.

Eric said the $2K that we would have to take out of the reserve fund is the trouble for the

town. The reserve fund doesn’t have a lot of money in it and we are working on this building

and afraid we will go over budget. Dean said the Historical Society doesn’t feel it is fair for

them to spend the entire cost of doing a project that benefits the town and the Historical

Society. Eric suggested that the Historical Society come back in 6 months when the town is

under a new budget.

Eric asked if the board feels comfortable earmarking the $5K for the Historical Society. Nat

said generally he would feel comfortable with it as long as the board is willing to make the

same deal with the other groups. In principal he thinks we should roll over money. Eric said

the Historical Society’s money rolls over into their reserve fund anyway.

Eric asked what restrictions are on the Historical Society reserve fund. Dean said he doesn’t

know. He thinks it is for capital expenditures. The Historical Society has some money in next

year’s budget for conservation of artifacts but they don’t have as much as they would like.

They would like to spend more next year than they have in their budget for that. (Casey

Romero and Scott Griswold arrived at 7:49.) But that is not a capital expenditure. If the

selectboard earmarks it, then they can spend it, right?

Nat said Duncan’s email lists 3 items: carriage room improvements, a strategic plan, and

preservation of documents. (Mike arrived at 7:50.) He is in favor of all of those. But we just


June 17, 2019

appropriated money for repairs to plumbing damage and to have the building power washed.

We can’t do everything at once. It makes sense to him to earmark some money for a couple

of these things but maybe not to do it all at once.

Dean said the match for the carriage room could come out of next year’s budget. The town

would have that option while the Historical Society wouldn’t. Nat asked which part of next

year’s budget it would come out of. Dean said he doesn’t know. Eric said we could earmark

the Historical Society’s current surplus funds and then revisit it when we are in next year’s

budget if we have money. Nat said he wants the money they saved to be spent how they

want. He is having a hard time with the extra $2K. Dean said he thinks there will be a surplus

from the power washing. The board could apply that. He doesn’t think the board can roll over

money without naming the projects it will be spent on. To roll it over to use in the next fiscal

year he thinks it has to be earmarked for use on specific projects.

Nat moved to earmark any surplus the Historical Society has in the current fiscal year

for 3 projects: carriage room improvements, a match for the grant application to

develop a strategic plan and conservation and preservation of historical artifacts as

specified in Duncan Hastings’ letter to the board, Kyle seconded and the motion was

passed with Mike abstaining as he was not here for the whole discussion.

9. Tuesday Night Live Committee Report

Howard Romero said he looked for dumpster quotes for 2 small boxes. He called 3 places

and 2 said they were not interested because the loads would be too small. He got a quote

from Casella of $131/month if they can pick up every 2 weeks. That is $262 total for the

duration of Tuesday Night Live. The TNL Committee also wants to know how the

selectboard feels about the committee passing a donation bucket again.

Nat said he thinks the committee should do it if they feel it is wise. Howard said two years

ago there was a question of competing buckets, for TNL and for the bandstand, so the

selectboard said no to passing a bucket. The committee is suggesting revisiting the issue and

passing a bucket if they feel the need. His hunch is that they will not need to do that this year.

But they would like permission to do it if necessary. Kyle said the committee had discussed

using GoFundMe but they feel that can be done one time only. They can’t keep having

GoFundMe campaigns. They felt they should save that for when a big need comes up and

pass the bucket instead for now. Eric asked, with the added vendor fees this year, does the

committee anticipate they will need it? Howard said they don’t know. They are spending

money on sound gear because they were left without enough to do the job. He thinks they

will be okay but he doesn’t know for sure. They would just like to have that option. Mike

said he agrees the board should leave it up to the committee.

Nat moved to allow the Tuesday Night Live Committee to pass a bucket for donations if

they want to and the motion was seconded and passed.

Howard asked if bands need a 1099 from the town. Rosemary said if they get paid over $600

they need a 1099.


June 17, 2019

Howard asked when water will be available on Legion Field. Eric asked Brian to follow up

on that.

Howard said he just wrote up what the committee has done so far and sent it off to Sue

Lovering to put in the paper.

10. Streetlights on Sinclair Road

Amy Thompson said she lives in East Johnson and she would like to know why the street

lights there were shut off. Eric said as a budget savings item.

Amy said that is a dangerous corner. Traffic is heavy. She has lived there for 68 years and

there were always lights. She never knew the town to operate in the red because of those

lights. She considers them a safety measure. With the new bridges there is now more heavy

traffic that travels faster and there is a lot of foot traffic. She wishes the board would

reconsider shutting off the lights for safety reasons.

Eric asked if she is talking about one light or all of them. Amy said she feels lights are

necessary at the Sinclair Road intersection and across the bridges. She can’t speak about any

specific light. She spoke to a woman across the street who thought the ones across the

bridges were necessary. She thinks a light is needed at the intersection of Sinclair and 100C.

Casey said in support of this request, VTrans engineers were at the Romeros’ place last week

looking at drainage and safety. The engineers said they hate the inadequate sightline entering

100C from the mill side. She said she and Howard would echo the safety issue. They can

attest to the increased speed.

Amy asked if the lights can be converted to LED’s to save. Howard said he thinks they were

sodium lights before they were turned off. Amy said the Chittenden County waste trucks all

go up that road.

Mike moved to put a light on the corner of Sinclair Road and 100C, seconded by Kyle.

Kyle asked if we can look into the LED option. Brian said we will ask the village. The

motion was passed. (Amy and the person accompanying her left.)

11. Skate Park/Thrash Club Collaboration and Site Manager

Casey said the Skate Park Committee hired the president and treasurer of the college shred

club to share the site manager position. They came highly recommended by the faculty

advisor of the shred club.

12. Waiver of Noise Ordinance for June 29 for Skate Park and Bike Trail

The Skate Park Committee is requesting a noise ordinance waiver for June 29 with a rain

date of June 30 for a fundraising event. There will be a 7-piece band on June 29 and a DJ if

the event is moved to the rain date. There will be food and activities. The committee paid for

advertising on Front Porch Forum for all of Lamoille County. They got a mini-grant for the

event.

Kyle moved and Mike seconded to approve the noise waiver request for the event at the

skate park on June 29 with a rain date of June 30 and the motion was passed. (Howard

and Casey left at 8:18.)


June 17, 2019

13. FY19-20 NEMS Contract

Scott Griswold reviewed the percentage of NEMS’ calls that are from Johnson compared to

the percent of their budget paid by Johnson. Nat moved to authorize Eric to sign the FY19-

20 NEMS contract, Mike seconded and the motion was passed.

Scott asked about how long NEMS’ property tax exemption is for. Rosemary and Eric said

they were not sure if it was for 5 or 10 years. Brian said we will have to check. (Scott

Griswold left at 8:21.)

14. Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department Contract FY19-20

The board signed contracts for patrol and communications. The contract amounts are the

same amounts previously approved.

15. LCPC Reappointment

Brian said Duncan Hastings is the town’s LCPC representative and he has requested to be

reappointed. Kyle moved to reappoint Duncan Hastings as the town’s representative to

LCPC, Nat seconded and the motion was passed.

16. Green Mountain Fund Grant for Johnson Recreation

The Recreation Committee applied for a Green Mountain Fund Grant for repairs to the

softball field and it was awarded.

17. Valley Bike Tours Facility Use

Jim Rose of Valley Bike Tours has submitted a request to use the parking area and the area in

front of the old mill building for electric bike tours. He would like to explore leaving a trailer

overnight on some Friday nights when necessary. Brian said he wants Brian K. and Troy to

weigh in on that. Nat said he wants to make sure Valley Bike Tours assumes all liability for

the trailer if it is left overnight. Nat moved to authorize Eric to sign the facility use permit

for Valley Bike Tours, Kyle seconded and the motion was passed.

18. All Star Baseball Facility Use

Brian said All Star Baseball didn’t get their facility use request in yet but he has talked to

Heather, the recreation coordinator, about it. Assuming they want the same time they wanted

previously we can accommodate them on our baseball schedule. Their games start soon; he

thinks next week. He would like the board to authorize him or Eric to sign the facility use

permit when the application is received. Mike moved to authorize Brian Story or Eric to

sign the facility use permit for All Star Baseball and the motion was seconded and

passed.

19. Comments on Green Mountain Power Transmission Lines

Brian said Green Mountain Power will be improving a substation and transmission lines in

the area. We have the option of commenting on how that fits with the town and regional plan

but we are not required to comment. Our Planning Commission has received email about

this. They did not provide a comment. The village has been included also. They might have

more of a stake than we do. Board member can send any comments to Brian by email and he

will communicate them to LCPC. (Howard Brown and the two people with him left at 8:28.)

20. On-Call Pay Proposal for Public Works Employees

Brian S. and Brian K. worked to estimate cost savings due to the public works employees’

proposal on call-outs. They counted up the number of times in the past year the crew went

out for plowing and sanding, salting, just sanding, or summertime call-outs. Now the

minimum call-out time is 4 hours. To determine the current cost, they counted each call-out

as a 4-hour call-out. Realistically, the time spent will usually be less. For the proposed call-


June 17, 2019

out costs, they estimated 4 hours for plowing and sanding, 3 hours for salting, 2.5 hours for

sanding and 2 hours for summer call-outs. Current call-out costs are a little over $58K and

under the proposed new system the cost would be around $50K. We would save about $8K.

Along with eliminating the minimum call-out time, the employees want on-call pay of $200

per person each week for 6 months. That would cost a little over $15K, leaving $7K not

covered by the savings from the change to the call-out time.

Eric said if we provided on-call pay for only 5 months the cost would be less. Brian said he

thought $15K probably would be too much so he asked them about alternatives to save

money. Their compromise was 5 months of on-call pay. If winter hours ran from mid-

November to mid-April that would shave a month off winter hours and 4 weeks off on-call

pay. They would receive on-call pay for 22 weeks.

Nat said the message from the meeting when employees came in was that they were offering

a concession more or less equal to the benefit they were asking for. With 5 months of on-call

pay they are asking for a benefit of $13,200 and offering a concession worth $7,800. He

would go with the proposed plan, but not at $200 per weekend. If the on-call pay were $120 a

week that would turn it into a benefit costing us $7,920, which is comparable to what they

are conceding. Mike said he agrees with Nat. The gist of the whole thing was that it was

going to be a wash and it’s not.

Nat said he would be more comfortable if Brian checked his math. He asked how $120 for

being on call compares to the village’s on-call pay. Rosemary said the village’s on-call pay is

more than that, close to $200. Nat said but they are qualified linemen and their base salary is

higher.

Mike said he thinks Brian needs to show the employees the figures and then come back to the

board. Brian suggested inviting the employees to the July 1 meeting. Kyle asked why. Brian

said in order for us to realize savings we need to implement the new plan early in the year to

avoid using the 4-hour minimum call-out. Having communication go back and forth between

the board and employees through him could take longer.

Mike said it wouldn’t hurt to ask the employees about lower on-call pay. He feels $120 is not

unreasonable. Eric said when Brian figures out what figure for on-call pay is a wash he can

send that information to the board and to employees. Brian said he will calculate the

breakeven price and suggest that amount to the employees. If that is not accepted he will look

at whether we can make time in July to invite them to meet with the board.

Eric said part of the problem is this is coming in at a time when we are going to a new budget

in which we didn’t budget for this change.

21. Vacancies on Recreation Committee

Nat said the board never formally appointed anyone to the Rec Committee but there are

people doing the work. Chair Kerri O’Halloran is stepping down and so are Hillary Hoag and

Laura Whitehill. The committee needs volunteers. He has been talking to people who may be

interested. If anyone knows of anyone who might be interested they should let Nat know.


June 17, 2019

22. Maintenance at Old Mill Park

Nat said Heather Rodriguez has some ideas for Old Mill Park. She is suggesting we purchase

a playground structure off Craigslist for $3K for Old Mill Park. Relocating playgrounds in

the past has worked well but Nat feels if we are going to spend $3K we should spend it on

the trailhead building, which is a little sad-looking now. Heather liked that idea too. Nat

thinks she would like to do both. She is asking for money out of the reserve budget.

Nat said one easy thing we can do at Old Mill Park is ask the mowers to mow the entryway

area all around the trailhead building. If we can expand the area they mow that would be a

huge improvement. Heather would also like to take down some brush, move a picnic table to

a different spot away from the portable toilet (which would require fill), and put up some

signage indicating water is available. That would attract more cyclists.

Brian said he discussed these requests with Heather. A couple of them, like signage, would

be easy to afford. We would have to investigate putting in fill and relocating the picnic table

to see how feasible that would be. He thinks the cost for the additional mowing would be

low. Heather also mentioned getting a new bike rack or securing the one we have. It gets

moved frequently. He thinks we can start moving on at least of few of these items that are

low cost.

Kyle asked if the new playground equipment would be in addition to what is there. Nat said

this would be a third playground element. It would be similar to the molded plastic toddler

playground structure at Legion Field. Three thousand dollars is inexpensive for that sort of

thing.

Eric asked if we have to go through Act 250 for adding fill. Brian said he would want to talk

to our state coordinator about that. We will work with them about what we would need to do

about bringing fill in. We are generally fine if we are adding material; they are more

concerned with removing it. But he wouldn’t do it without talking to them.

Brian said he will follow up on mowing and signs. We have a grant for rail trail signs.

Kyle said she would love to see some maintenance done on the playground equipment

already there. Nails are starting to stick out of the ship and some on the train. Brian said we

have been trying to get a contractor to do work on a broken piece on the pirate ship. He

wasn’t aware of anything on the train. Kyle said she thinks someone just needs to use a

hammer to pound in loose nails.

23. Evergreen Ledge Cemetery Deed

Brian said we have the deed for the sale of Evergreen Ledge Cemetery plots to Don and

Lucille Sargent. They have paid their deposit. Mike moved to sell Evergreen Ledge

Cemetery plots to Don and Lucille Sargent as specified in the deed prepared for the

sale, Nat seconded and the motion was passed.

24. Light Industrial Park Update

Brian said he is hoping to have the EDA grant application out by the end of June. We should

hear next month if we get the Northern Borders grant. He is going later this month to an


June 17, 2019

Opportunity Zone workshop with Tasha Wallis from LCPC. Opportunity Zones won’t

provide the town with money but could help us sell units once we have infrastructure built.

25. Review Old Business

Brian said the board had asked him to evaluate and advance a draft of the policy on

dilapidated buildings. In the draft he has they are called nuisance properties. Doug had a little

input but this is mostly a draft from another town that passed a similar measure. Our attorney

had developed this for another town. We weren’t sure if we wanted to include something

about vacant properties. Brian had a hard time giving that up but he thinks concentrating our

efforts on dilapidated nuisance buildings is more worthwhile. He thinks this might be more

palatable to residents and more focused on more serious problems. He thinks the vacancy

problem is not as permanent as eyesore buildings.

Nat said it has been a few years since we discussed this with the trustees. They have a new

board now with different members. Part of the difficulty is that the bulk of the problem is

within the village. Some dilapidated buildings outside of the village, such as some

agricultural buildings, are not eyesores. We have been trying to craft our regulation to adjust

to that. He would like to ask the trustees again if they have any interest in working together

with us on this. The board agreed to do that.

26. Bread Oven

Kyle said the bread oven is having structural issues that are making it hard to use. The person

who originally made the oven recently did some overhaul to the inside. Right now stone from

the inside is falling into the oven making it shift so the door is not sealing and it can’t be kept

heated as much as it needs. At the bake tonight the fire went completely out. She will try to

get some names of people who work on bread ovens. It seems as if we may need fresh eyes

to look at ours.

Nat said he thought Jen Burton was going to be in charge of maintenance. Kyle said the door

has gotten really bad in the last two days. She needs to loop Jen in. Is there any money for the

bread oven? Brian said there is nothing budgeted. Mike said the main selling point was that

the town wasn’t going to have to put any money into it or maintain it. Kyle said she will loop

Jen in and try to get some names. Mike said now we are assuming some ownership. Nat said

we own it. It is on our property. Eric said he thinks Jen needs to be looped in first.

27. Inclusivity Statement

Kyle said the inclusivity statement hasn’t gotten on the website. Brian said it's on there but

not featured prominently enough and it may say “draft.” He will fix it and get it prominently

on the front page and the selectboard page and make the suggestion to put it on the trustee

page too.

Mike asked, is everyone happy with our website? Kyle said no. Brian said he wasn’t able to

get on the website to update agendas on Friday or Saturday. Mike said the website needs to

be spruced up. Kyle said it’s outdated and not very alluring. Brian said it isn’t included with

our contract with our IT provider but the IT provider does have people who can help us with

that.


June 17, 2019

28. Racial Justice Workshop

Kyle said Jackie Stanton has reached out to Brian twice about this with no response. She and

Jackie have provided information about organizations that do racial justice workshops. She is

not sure how to support Brian to continue this forward.

Brian said Jackie has some good contacts. She has been helpful. What we need to do is make

a time commitment for it. The board should pick a month and he can make it happen. It is up

to the board whether to have it as part of a regular meeting or not.

Kyle said her vision was that it would be on a different day, perhaps a weekend. Eric said it

probably should be after summer, probably in early fall before budget season.

Brian suggested September and the board agreed that would be good. Brian said he will get

back to Jackie and work with her to pick somebody and set up a workshop for a weekend, not

a regular meeting night.

Eric asked if it would be for the public or just the board. Kyle said we have said in the past

that it would be a public thing.

29. Selectboard Issues/Concerns

Brian said we had a little trouble delivering the corrective order for the decision for the

potentially vicious dog but the constable delivered it by hand.

Eric asked if the constables have gone to constable training. Brian said he believes Sharon

has been to some in the past. Tracy hasn’t. He has some information on available training. He

will try to coordinate with them on going.

Mike asked about the health issue on Railroad Street. Brian said he is still working on

drafting a notice of intent. He would like to suggest a deadline in the notice for voluntary

compliance in order for the board not to have a hearing to determine if there is a health issue.

Kyle said she went to the last village trustee meeting to talk about getting food trucks on the

village green and she asked about reseeding grass on Railroad Street. The village said they

would be willing to give us material for the hydroseeder.

Brian said we are negotiating how that will go. Nat said he feels like some things are being

relinquished by the village and the expectation is being pushed on us. The village is making a

decision now without our input to make more green strips on Pearl Street. He feels it should

be the expectation that the village keep those seeded.

Brian said he had suggested the idea of using the hydroseeder because seeding by hand is

very time-consuming. He suggested it would be more effective for the village to pay us to do

it because we have the hydroseeder. With that it takes minutes to do a fairly large patch.

Nat said he is in favor of equipment sharing or if they want to pay us for labor but it’s their

responsibility.


June 17, 2019

Mike said he feels there should not be shared equipment. If one entity needs the other’s

equipment it should be furnished with an operator. Brian said he tends to agree. FEMA

publishes a schedule of equipment rates. We can use that as a method for payment to each

other. Eric said he thinks the only shared equipment now is the backhoe. Brian said that is the

only truly shared equipment. The village owns the tractor and we have done some

maintenance on it in the past. Eric said it would be better if we paid the FEMA rate and they

maintained it. Mike said if the village owns 20% of the backhoe we could pay them for that

20% and own it. Or, Eric said, we could buy our own the next time one is purchased. Nat

said if there have been no recent issues with the shared status of the backhoe we should leave

it alone. We can discuss it the next time we buy one.

Brian said the village agreed that they wouldn’t want to start asking for compensation for use

of their tractor this close to the start of the town’s new fiscal year. This year we will not have

to pay and we will figure out what to do in the future. We will negotiate that when drawing

up a budget. He thinks we should just pay the FEMA rate for use of the tractor. Eric said we

should charge the village a fair rate for salt. Now we give them a break and we shouldn’t.

Brian said he believes we sell it to them for the tonnage cost, not taking into account our

storage or other costs.

Mike asked if Nat and Scott have met yet about the merger study. Nat said not yet. They

should meet this week but he hasn’t talked to Scott. Mike said he is wondering how much

further out this will go until it’s resolved. We are in our second year now and we need to do

something. Eric said the problem is that it is not the only thing on our agenda. Mike said the

town and village voters voted to do a merger study. We need to be moving on it.

30. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30.

Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths

4. treasurer’s report / review and approve bills,...

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